Digital Turtle Saga
by Azure Umbra
Summary: Rend. Slaughter. Devour your enemies. There is no other way to survive. You cannot escape your hunger, warriors of the Twelfth Dimension. (TMNT2012-verse)
1. Chapter 1-Harai Tamae Kiyome Tamae

_No, please…_

 ** _There is no turning back. I found the answer. Life should return to its origins, and embrace the truth._**

 _That isn't true._

 ** _You, like me, need only what was lost._**

 _Stop it._

 ** _I will release the uncontrollable rage that lurks inside them…the fury of the demons._**

 _No!_

* * *

Across a barren sky of stripped clouds, a line of crumbled and half-buried buildings along with other structures jutted out of the sandy surface, populating the barren landscape like trees made of metal and concrete. The edges of those buildings appeared to be flayed with damage, partly by erosion but also by external third-party damage, as indicated by the numbers of individual bipedal life forms scattered on two sides of a barren strip of land among the ruins.

On one side of the field was a group of scaly lizards of an iguana-like nature, hinted by the spines lining their bodies. On the other side was a group of four turtles wearing different colored bandanas and one human female with black hair wearing armor. They were keeping watch against the lizard-like bipeds on the opposing side, but the female member found herself distracted by the visor she wore, which detected the presence of a cylindrical structure sitting at the center of the field below. Lingering on it momentarily, she turned her head to face the humanoid turtle next to her wearing a blue bandana.

"I've never seen anything of that nature," she quietly commented.

The turtle with the blue bandana looked back at her. "What is it?" he asked her. The female human proceeded to take off her visor and hand it to the blue-masked turtle. He placed the visor over his eye and looked past the crumbling concrete barricade he and his female partner hid behind. In his view, he zoomed in on the lizards positioned on the other side, his visor labelling the lizards as the ' **Scale Tail Clan**.'

"Imperius Reptilicus is present," his female partner noted to him.

Shifting his focus to the cylindrical structure his female partner made note of before, the blue-masked turtle magnified the view and waited for the visor to scan it for information, but all he got was a static-filled message saying ' **No Data**.' Seeing that he could learn nothing of the object from where he was at the moment, he raised his three-fingered hand to give a series of signals to his other three comrades. All three of them were turtles just like him, except they wore bandanas of different colors being red, purple, and orange. The red-masked turtle hiding behind a concrete barricade affirmed the signal and drew from his sides a pair of pointed Sai blades, spinning them briefly before securing them in his grip. The orange-masked turtle, hiding behind the corner of a crumbled wall, flipped out a pair of nunchaku, unfolding a kusarigama blade from one of them. Finally, the purple-masked turtle crouched behind an earthen mound pulled out a long staff from behind his shell.

With one more hand signal from the blue-masked turtle positioned forward, the other three turtles zipped from their hiding places and sprinted down the slope. Just a couple seconds after they moved, the last turtle and his human female partner readied themselves to join the others. But just before they began, the female partner told the turtle quietly, "New recruits are always available, but a leader is irreplaceable. Remember that." The turtle leader gave a small nod before leaping into the fray. As he dashed down the slope, he reached behind his shell and in his hands swung two katanas. The black-haired female was closely behind him and whipped out her tanto blade. All five of them ran, even sliding down the slope as they got closer to their opponents. The lizards of the Scale Tail Clan also jumped out of their hiding places and dashed towards their enemies.

The blue-masked turtle swiftly hid behind another broken wall and crouched. He readily continued holding his swords, but he jolted slightly at suddenly hearing a vibrating chirp. He looked straight up to find a tiny magenta-skinned turtle with a spiked shell sitting on top of the wall, staring down at him with deep-tinted eyes. He didn't have time to examine the strange creature, for he had to turn his attention back to a Scale Tail Clan lizard dashing around the barricade to take a swing at him. The turtle immediately ducked and rolled away, causing the lizard's blade to get embedded in the rock, giving him the chance to strike down his enemy with a swing of his sword. He did the same with a few more lizards that came his way. Another lizard from far away shot out a few crossbow bolts, but the shots were intercepted by the black-haired female who threw several shuriken stars in their path. Only one bolt made it past her and embedded itself in the wall near the blue-masked turtle. The turtle leaped away as the bolt exploded only a second later. The blast still managed to keep him from landing on his feet as he tumbled onto his side. His gaze sharply turned to the sky to find a small number of lizards leaping into the air with their weapons raised to slay him. He pulled out his own bundle of shuriken and flung them at the aggressors who immediately fell from the sting of the flying blades. The turtle, however, found more lizards taking their place, leaving him no time to throw more stars. But they also fell as they were intercepted by his three turtle compatriots zipping through the air from all directions, each making a blow on every lizard as they leapt back and forth. After taking care of them, the blue-masked turtle and his four teammates flicked out small bombs of their own and launched them into the air towards the opposition. The remaining lizards shot out more explosive bolts and hit the bombs, causing a massive aerial explosion. The smoke and fire from the explosion cleared away shortly after, but the blue-masked turtle still held his swords in his hands, watching the lizards that were still hidden behind their barricades. The cylinder-like structure at the center briefly pulsed with a sickly glow that emanated in colors of black and green.

" **Warning to the Scale Tail Clan:** " the purple-masked turtle spoke through a small portable communications device, with the signal obviously being sent towards the lizards, " **Remove the unidentified object at coordinates 2314 5873. Failure to comply will be deemed an act of war.** " A brief pause hung in the air as the team waited for a reply.

Then, the lizard known as Imperius Reptilicus spoke: " **Warning to the Kikyōmon: Remove the unidentified object at coordinates 2314 5873. Failure to comply will be deemed an act of war.** "

The repetition of the statement caused both the blue-masked and purple-masked turtles to look at each other briefly. The blue-masked turtle decided to initiate the warning one more time. " **Warning to the Scale Tail Clan: Remove the unidentified object at coordinates 2314 5873. Failure to comply will be deemed an act of war.** "

But everyone's attention was caught by the giant canister suddenly glowing even brighter than before. The black and green texture of the canister continued to pulse, gradually doing so with more intensity and even more brightly. Then, a flash of bright light blinked from the sky, causing the blue-masked turtle to look up.

The light streaked down furiously towards the canister, leaving a trail of smaller particles of light. But the gentle appearance did nothing to take away the main light's ferocity as it screamed towards the canister like an enflamed meteor. Before anyone could react, the light impacted the canister, causing it to shatter and erupt with a multitude of ribbon-like tendrils of light before another light-filled explosion followed immediately after. The tendrils of light flew in every direction, every single one making their way towards every person in the vicinity, including all the Scale Tail Clan warriors and the warriors of the Kikyōmon. Each light pierced their bodies, leaving behind a mark of light on the spot where they passed through which immediately began spreading glowing veins across the rest of their bodies.

The blue-masked turtle, feeling the sickly light branching out within his body, felt himself losing awareness of his surroundings. "What is this?" the turtle grunted as he struggled to make sense of what was happening. He cranked up his head to find the Scale Tail Clan lizards also undergoing something similar to his. Just as he made out the lizards twisting and morphing into some unknown shape, he felt his vision being clouded with thoughts. "Can't…stay… **eat** …in control… **eat them** …what is… **eat** …must… **eat them all** …must find **\- eatthemalleatthemalleatthemalleatthemalleatthemalleatthemalleatthemalleatthemalleatthemalleatthemalleatthemalleatthemalleatthemalleatthemalleatthemall – [HARAI TAMAE KIYOME TAMAE] – R.Y.Ū.J.I.N** "

The visor he had been wearing fell to the ground, with only the lens witnessing the turtle's own transformation. Faintly in its reflection, it made out him crying out in pain as he took on a monstrous form, with fins sprouting out of his head, shoulders, limbs, beastly textures covering his skin, long sharp claws growing out of his arms, among several other forceful metamorphoses. Yelling in agony, he thrashed all around, cutting up some other creatures in his path causing blood to splatter across the ground, even covering the lens of the fallen visor, which just captured him lunging downwards to feast upon the pieces he had slashed off before the view was obscured entirely.

The rain was a dark crimson for a time, with not one creature in motion save for a finned, shelled beast using his jaws to tear away at a minced creature held in his claws.

* * *

For a while, it was pitch black, but then a clear blue sky with faint wispy clouds became present, a warm sun shining overhead, before fading into a blinding white.

The blue-masked turtle's eyes snapped open, awakening him back to reality. For a moment, he had a look of soft shock on his face before pushing himself upright into a sitting position. He looked to his left to find two of his comrades, the human female and the purple-masked turtle, coming to as well.

"What happened…? Where…where are the Scale Tail Clan warriors?" the purple-masked turtle inquired as he looked around.

The black-haired human female pushed herself to her feet. "My chest is on fire…," she groaned, coughing a little from the stress. The blue-masked turtle observed the two returning to consciousness, not noticing that his left cheek now bore a strange mark, which glowed momentarily.

"Leader," he heard the voice of the orange-masked turtle calling to him. He turned his head in the direction of the call to find said turtle waving to him. Both he and the red-masked turtle were standing in front of a crater emitting soft rays of light and looking at whatever was the source of the light. He and the remaining two members made their way towards the site.

When he got to the edge of the crater, he gazed down into the brightly lit bottom to find an unusual sight. It was humanoid, a living creature that appeared to be of the same species as his female compatriot. In fact, the being was also female. However, this female appeared to have a different skin tone, being more of a peach color compared to the other's pale tone. And while the female Kikyōmon warrior had black hair, the strange girl below was red-haired. She was lying down on her side, curled up in a fetal position with her eyes closed, apparently asleep.

The blue-masked turtle's gaze lingered upon this girl with almost a sense of wonder. He only looked upon her for so long when he was intruded by the red-masked turtle speaking. "Any thoughts?" the red-masked turtle asked his blue-masked comrade, who apparently was the leader of the team.

"It's strange," the blue-masked turtle answered, "I feel like I've met this girl before." He watched as the red-haired girl shifted slightly, not once opening her eyes.

"I do too," the red-masked turtle affirmed in agreement. "I actually want to know more about her." He turned his head to look at his leader. "I'm sure you feel the same, Leo."

As the five members of the Kikyōmon continued to examine the strange, new red-haired girl, whom they had never seen before, they did not notice themselves being observed by the mysterious little magenta turtle with a spiked shell sitting on the edge of a crumbled concrete wall up above. One thing was for certain: the outcome of the battle had changed, and much remained to be known.

* * *

 **Note : "Harai Tamae Kiyome Tamae" - from the 'Amatsu Norito' (the Shinto purification ritual prayer), roughly means, " _cleanse all, purify all_ " or " _purify my soul, wash my soul_ "; mainly meant to do with purification from the 'True Light,' like the sun/Amaterasu the sun-goddess who's essentially the holy light **


	2. Chapter 2-Omairi & the Nexus

The sky had darkened and was raining for some time. Things were a little quieter than usual in the canyon-town of **Omairi** which was built into the walls of the crevice. Being the home of the Kikyōmon Clan, its geography helped to keep its residents relatively secluded from the general view of the other clans, though the somewhat shanty-like appearance of the built structures didn't contribute to greatness. It may as well have been the edge of a sewer canal to the casual unwary eye.

In a small meeting room seated deep within the canyon wall, three of the Kikyōmon – the purple-masked turtle, orange-masked turtle, and the black-haired woman – were gathered there. A pair of sliding doors which served as the entrance opened up to reveal the red-masked turtle and blue-masked turtle, whose name was apparently Leo, walking in.

"Raph, how is she?" the orange-masked turtle asked his red-masked comrade who was sitting down on a nearby crate, apparently inquiring about the red-haired girl.

"Still sleeping," the red-masked turtle called Raph responded.

Leo stood next to the black-haired woman, who lowered her head in slight bewilderment. Lifting her hand up to her line of sight, she examined the ring on her finger. "She didn't have a Tag Ring," she remarked, rotating her hand to look at her own ring. "Who could she be?"

"We shouldn't be thinking about the girl right now," the purple-masked turtle interjected. "Whatever happened after the battle is unclear. Anyway, what are these markings?" He looked at everyone in the room, prompting them all to look at the new tattoo-like insignias imprinted on their skin. The purple-masked turtle had a marking on his left lower leg. The black-haired woman had one on her chest. The orange-masked turtle also had one, just on his upper right leg. The red-masked turtle known as Raph looked down to the marking on his right forearm that he held against his hip. Finally, there was the blue-masked Leo who had the marking on his left cheek. The purple-masked turtle continued speaking, "Our priority is to clarify and assess the situation."

Raph, who was leaning on his back against the wall, looked disquieted. But he looked up to face his purple-masked cohort. "I'll go to the Scale Tail Clan."

"To the Scale Tail Clan's territory?" asked the orange-masked turtle.

"Yeah, I will," Raph replied, "they might have an answer for us."

Leo stepped forward, turning his eyes to Raph. "I'll go with Raph," he announced, "and we'll need one more for the trip. The rest will stay and guard the base."

There was a brief moment of silence as the others contemplated who will make the next decision. Then, the black-haired woman spoke up, "I will go. I also want an explanation."

Leo nodded in affirmation as he got his two companions together. "Then we'll be off. Let's make the preparations." Both nodded in return and went to leave the room. Only Leo and his purple and orange-masked mates were left in the room. Leo went to the strategy table where his purple-masked companion was standing to discuss a plan of action. "Donnie," Leo told him, "since we're going into enemy territory, I understand that you know the consequences better than anyone in the Kikyōmon. What will we need to look out for?" The purple-masked turtle, or Donnie as he was called, had a look of deep thought for a moment, but then faced Leo.

"The Scale Tail Clan always prioritizes protection of their borders," he reasoned, "so you'll need to expect a number of guards. You'll have to move quickly and quietly."

Leo squinted one of his eyes slightly. "But we are going to their territory to exchange information. They have to respect our intentions of a ceasefire based on that."

Donnie shook his head, however. "That may well be, but we can't afford to let our guard down, no matter the circumstance." He looked back down to the strategy table. "Who knows if they're planning to do the same as you?" Leo somehow was not assured. He turned to leave Donnie, but he was interrupted by Donnie last parting remark, "Just don't concern yourself with the girl. Our only concern should be reaching Tengoku." Leo stood for a moment after hearing Donnie tell him that, but soon walked away, leaving Donnie to his own thinking.

 _"Yes, Tengoku,"_ Leo thought to himself. Leo's clan, the **Kikyōmon** , was one out of six clans that fought each other for as long as he could remember, or at least all of his conscious life. What they were fighting for was the right to enter **Tengoku**. From what he understood, Tengoku was the end goal of his people – a place, or state of being, or whatever it was – where no more fighting was required and life would be different, but even Leo only knew so much, and however much he knew wasn't enough. But first, the Kikyōmon was required to conquer and rule over the other clans first. Only then would his clan be allowed into Tengoku.

Finding the orange-masked turtle still sitting on the same crate, Leo walked over to start another interaction. "Mikey," he addressed the sitting turtle. The orange-masked turtle, known as Mikey, turned to look up towards Leo and gave him a sign of acknowledgment. "Do you have anything to add on the matter?"

Mikey, hearing the question, paused briefly to think about the question, and then he slowly began to frown. He turned to look back down at the floor with a sense of discomforting doubt. "That girl…" he pondered, "it's just…I feel like I've met her before." Leo knelt down to look more closely at Mikey. Mikey looked back up to look Leo in the eye. "I know Karai feels that way too."

Leo stood up straight again and turned to leave the room. Going down the metal-plated hallways that seemed balanced between spacious and narrow, he went down the short set of stairs that separated the hallways from the meeting room door. Taking a left turn towards another door, the door opened to allow him inside a simple bedroom. This room was just one of many others serving as a sleeping quarters for the other members of the Kikyōmon living in Omairi. On the other end of the room in one corner was a bed, and lying on it under a blanket was the red-haired human girl. She laid there with her eyes closed, her head resting on a pillow, remaining just as asleep as she was when she was first discovered. Leo stared at her for a little while, wondering just why he had that feeling of familiarity when he was in her presence. Knowing that compelled him to leave the room and back into the main hallways where he proceeded down them until he reached the outside.

* * *

Crossing a small bridge connecting the front opening of the hallway to the natural canyon edge, one of several edges jutting out to form the natural formations of the crevices composing Omairi, Leo made his way up to a slightly higher surface of the cliff. He ran into one passing Kikyōmon soldier who happened to spot and approach him. When he did, he bowed slightly towards the blue-masked terrapin leader.

"Everything's in order, sir," he told Leo. Leo nodded slightly in acknowledgement, knowing that this person, along with every other one comprising the Kikyōmon had not faltered in their duties.

"Good work," Leo said. "Carry on." He turned to leave, but found that same Kikyōmon soldier interrupting him.

"Wait," he exclaimed. Leo stopped to face the young member again to find him wearing an expression that he hadn't seen before. "Who is that person you brought here?" he asked his leader, an action and behavior that said leader did not expect. "I've never seen that hair color before."

"No?" Leo inquired.

"No," the soldier responded. "I've seen the colors of hair on your subordinate and a few of our clan members and even members of the other clans from Misogi and Imi, and even some of them have the same color. But…that girl…she's the only one with that color. Do you know who she is, sir?"

Again, Leo thought back to the feeling of familiarity he had when looking at the red-haired girl earlier, but he did not have an answer. "No," Leo replied, "but I'm going to find out. Just focus on your duties for the time being."

The young Kikyōmon soldier bowed again after hearing this and turned away from Leo. He walked off resuming whatever he had been doing up until his interaction with his leader.

Leo continued across the platform and found himself meeting up with Raph and the black-haired woman, who was known by his cohorts as Karai. Raph was preoccupied with talking to some other Kikyōmon member, so Leo decided to talk to Karai first.

"Leo," Karai greeted Leo when she saw him.

"Karai," Leo greeted her back. "Are you in full condition to leave yet?"

Karai nodded her head, though she did not seem to appear completely committed from the look on her face. "I'm just not sure about my own condition though," she confided to Leo. "Ever since that battle with Imperius Reptilicus and his soldiers…I haven't felt well since we returned…" She continued to appear being deep within herself.

Leo found her response very unusual. In fact, it almost caused something to stir within him, as though it compelled him to want to find out more about why Karai was like this. It was though he was drawn to trying to alleviate whatever problem she was having. But he remembered the mission at hand, so he left her to her thoughts. On his way to talk to Raph, Leo couldn't help but have a few thoughts of his own. _"Everyone's been acting strangely after being touched by those lights."_ He brought a hand up to his left cheek where the brand imprinted on his skin was. _"Just what is this strange mark?"_

Seeing that Raph was finished talking to the other Kikyōmon, he made his way to the red-masked turtle. Raph turned to see Leo coming towards him, so he redirected his attention to his leader.

"Leo," Raph greeted, saying it in the same manner as the others Leo had spoken to so far. "I was just telling the others to get to their posts." He turned his head to observe the Kikyōmon soldiers making their way to strategic positions around Omairi.

"Are you in full condition to leave?" Leo asked Raph the same question he did for Karai. Raph gave Leo an affirming nod. Leo then made a further inquiry, "You're the one who proposed going to the Scale Tail Clan for information. What made you decide that?"

"I just know that Imperius Reptilicus is still alive," Raph said. "He was there when the girl appeared, so he might know something about her." Leo nodded as he understood Raph's reasoning, though he still looked over to the other Kikyōmon walking by, thinking about an order to give them. But Raph caught that look. He reassured Leo, "Let them keep watch. We just need to confirm information."

Leo looked into Raph's eyes for a short moment. Then, he relaxed himself and beckoned Raph and Karai to follow him. All three of them were walking along the paths slanting up the canyon, having no problem since they were carved out as Omairi's designated walkways, since they were part of what made up the canyon town.

* * *

As they made their way up the sloped walkways and sets of stairs, they discussed the possibilities of their changing situation further. "We can only guess that the Scale Tail Clan's gone through the same things we have," Raph opened, "so there might not be as much hostility when they see us, since both sides saw each other that time."

"Well, they have no reason to be hostile," Karai chimed in. "Otherwise, we're compromising ourselves and our tribe if we make a mistake. We might risk provoking an attack from them on Omairi."

"What makes you think they'll choose to attack our sector if things go wrong?" Leo asked Karai after hearing her make her hypothesis.

"It could happen, since they're bigger than us," Karai reasoned to him. "In fact, we'll have to expect it, being the smallest of all the clans. The same is true for Omairi, being Kikyōmon territory and the smallest sector in the Nexus."

Leo kept in mind that what Karai said was true. Compared to all the other main areas of the **Nexus** , which was the name of the world he, his people, and everyone else lived in, his clan's territory was by far the smallest, being situated only in an open sliver in the ground that is the canyon in which the entire town was built on its walls. Omairi was the only place that didn't have the dignity of being a settlement built on an open surface with its own walls. If one walked around the Nexus, Omairi would be the only place that couldn't be spotted at first sight, let alone on the horizon.

"Probably doesn't help that it's also sandwiched between the Scale Tail Clan's and Salamandrians' sectors," Raph commented in a slightly low tone similar to a mutter. By then, the three had made it to the top of the canyon leading out into the open which held the rest of the lands that made up the Nexus.

Another member of the Kikyōmon was standing guard nearby when he noticed the three getting ready to leave the area. "It looks like you're heading out to Temizu," he commented in observation. Leo acknowledged his fellow clan member's statement as true. He kept in mind that **Temizu** , the Scale Tail Clan's territory, was to the east of Omairi. West of Omairi was **Harae** , home of the Salamandrian Clan. Beyond those territories were the sectors **Misogi** , **Imi** , and **Shubatsu** , along with **Kagura** which stood in the center of the Nexus surrounded by the other six areas. Leo began to head out with Karai, Raph, and a few other Kikyōmon soldiers when the guard gave one more statement, "the Scale Tail Clan is at an advantage. Be careful, sir."

Leo acknowledged the guard with a nod, and turned to continue heading out into the lands of the Nexus to Temizu.

* * *

 **Note :**

 **Kikyōmon - means "Bellflower Seal"; based off the kikyō (Japanese Bell Flower); used as a crest by some Japanese clans; said to look like a turtle**

 **Tengoku - means "heaven"**

 **Omairi - the act of visiting a shrine**

 **Temizu - a hand and mouth washing procedure required of every shrine visitor before entering; usually done when a hand washing basin is provided**

 **Harae - the rite of ritual purification, usually done daily at a shrine; a ceremony of offerings and prayers of several forms**

 **Misogi - the water purification ritual; one may perform it under a waterfall or in a river while reciting prayers to demonstrate dedication**

 **Imi - a cleanliness ritual performed by means of abstinence; a taboo is placed upon certain persons or acts**

 **Shubatsu - a cleansing ritual performed by sprinkling salt**

 **Kagura - the ancient Shinto ritual dance; name said to be the contracted form of the term "kami no kura" (seat of the kami/gods)**

 ***On another note, I named the Nexus, the main setting, after the "Battle Nexus," a location from the 2003 cartoon series-version of TMNT**


	3. Chapter 3-Temizu

It had been a little while since leaving Omairi, but Leo and his cohorts did not slow down as they made their way across the barren lands of the Nexus. Their destination was Temizu, home to the Scale Tail Clan, but on their way, they found themselves passing through the field in which they fought Imperius Reptilicus and his soldiers about a day before. Leo thought to return to the crater where he found the girl, hoping he could find any extra clues to her identity and what exactly was going. He was beginning to notice his stomach feeling funny though, as if it were itching and slightly aching. It actually made him feel…hungry. In fact, after a little while, the feeling caused him to feel slightly sluggish in his limbs and the rest of the muscles in his body.

Making his way back to the edge of the crater, he looked into it to find no light. It was now just an empty hole in the ground. Finding nothing of value, he decided to ask his compatriots. Ignoring the weakening sensation under his plastron, he approached Karai.

"Find anything?" Leo asked her.

Karai shook her head. "I haven't found any clues. But something happened here, and I want to know what that was." Leo saw that he had nothing to learn from his comrade, so he turned away from Karai and went to examine the rest of the site. While he was surveying the landscapes and the surrounding environments, he overheard a few of his comrades muttering to themselves about the matter.

One clan member whispered, "That light spread throughout the Nexus. Was it one of the Scale Tail Clan's new weapons?"

Raph was muttering to himself, "Why was that girl here?" He lifted his arm to look at his brand that remained etched on his skin. "Is she related to this marking?"

Leo remained alert, scanning for any clues potentially left behind after the incident, but again, he found nothing, at least of value. As he looked around, he made a note that he and his fellow clan members were the only ones on the site looking for answers. He thought it was strange, since the Scale Tail Clan was the only other clan that was present and affected. He wondered why they were not here at the site examining just like his group. It was something almost uncharacteristic of any person living in the Nexus to choose not to take action. It only served to prove that things have gotten more and more illogical since the lights came. Leo came to conclude that the Scale Tail Clan must have gone into hiding. Seeing that no more could be found at the site, he signaled to his group and they headed out to continue their journey to Temizu.

* * *

The group crossed over a small slope and looked overhead to see the walls comprising the border of Temizu, the territory of the Scale Tail Clan. They finally made it to their destination.

"There it is," Leo quietly announced to everyone in the group. He turned back to look at the front gate. "We'll need to move quickly and quietly," he said, repeating what had been recommended to him by Donnie. He pointed to three of his team members, "You three take the east side of the border and scan the watchtowers." He then pointed to another two, "You two will deal with the guards at the door." He then turned to Raph and Karai standing at either side of him, "You'll stay with me and infiltrate through their diversion." His two teammates nodded, and they waited for the other five members of their group to get to where they were told to go. After a little while, the three sent to the watchtowers gave a signal that it was all clear. Shortly after, the two sent to the front gate did the same. Leo went out first with Raph and Karai following closely behind him. They flitted and darted around the rocks that jutted out of the smooth surface. After a short while, they made it to a section of the wall which had a sparse pattern of nooks and notches in the brickwork. The three climbed their way up and over the wall using those etches. Silently, they wasted no time getting to the other side and landing onto Temizu grounds. Zipping stealthily to hide behind a nearby pile of supply crates, all three peeked around the boxes to scan for security.

The settlement of Temizu was more impressive to look at than Omairi, having the dignity of being above ground for starters. Every building was tall and roomy enough to allow for more uses beyond living space and frugal supply room. The design of the buildings was more distinct as well, taking on an industrial feel that was not entirely different from a factory from the Industrial Revolution, especially with its smokestacks. There was even room for decorations, which was not limited to painted trims around the rooftops that resembled reptilian eyes and predatory teeth.

Leo kept his eyes around the front door of the main building where Imperius Reptilicus was, while Raph and Karai looked everywhere else down Temizu's main streets. Karai gradually began to look surprised while Raph's face slowly developed one of discomfort as they noticed how empty and devoid of life the streets were, along with no one standing near the door of Imperius Reptilicus's base. After some time of staking out the area, all three concluded that there were no guards to watch out for, so they came out of their hiding place.

After stopping to rest herself on a short stack of tires, Karai thought she would speak first. "Something's wrong," she told her terrapin comrades and looked back to scan the nearby watchtowers surrounding the residence, "There are no guards in sight at all. They're entirely vulnerable this way."

Raph, after hearing this, began marching towards the building's entrance without hesitation. "Works for me. Let's go."

Leo wasted no time catching up to Raph, walking alongside him to maintain the pace. As they neared the door, Leo thought to assess the situation further. He looked to Raph, "Between us and the Scale Tail Clan, we're the only ones investigating this, and even after we came to their territory, they're still not active." He looked Raph in the eye, causing Raph to do the same. "You think something happened to us that's different from them? It might mean they knew we were coming…"

Raph looked back at Leo, but his stern expression didn't change one bit. He told Leo, "I don't know what's behind this, but I can only guess they're scared of us."

"Scared?" Leo blinked, not registering Raph's answer.

"Just look around, Leo," Raph turned and gestured his arms to imply the group's surroundings. "Whatever you think you know about this, if you can't explain it, well neither can I."

Leo still could not come up with a good answer to this mystery, so he chose to go along with Raph's assumption, "Well then, why would they be scared of us?"

Raph didn't need to think of an answer, "We'll find out soon enough."

"Reptilicus better not have set a trap for us with the way we're going about this," Karai remarked, not feeling particularly impressed with Raph's bluntness at the moment.

* * *

Making their way inside, the three found themselves in a tall supply room filled with stacked crates covered with tarps and a few more interspersed stacks of tires. Looking around to take the next course of action, Leo detected another door to the right and directed his two comrades to follow him through it. Finding themselves in another spacious store room, the three could spot almost the entirety of the room being occupied by an elevated metal-plated platform connected by a short set of stairs. More supply crates lined the bottom of the platform, with some surrounding the metal leg-like supports below it. More of them populated the top of the platform. Getting to the other end of the room, they passed through another door to get into a new room. This one was different, not used for supplies. It was taller and more equilaterally square-shaped than the previous, having space for a proper promenade on the second level above decorated with railings and columns. Leo saw in front of him a raised wall with more carnivorous lizard motifs decorated on its face. Seeing that there was no way forward, Leo decided that the group should spread out and start investigating for clues to progress.

Looking over some small boxes, Karai looked to Raph for some leads while Raph looked stumped himself. "Hey Raph," she called to him, "have you found out anything about the girl on our way here?"

Raph paused to think about her question for a moment, but then sighed with a mild exasperation. "No," he told her curtly, "all I know is that she's familiar to me somehow…and now I can't stop thinking about her." He slowly stopped what he was doing as he looked around the room to distract himself. "Her face just appears in my mind, and I feel like I'm remembering things I'm not even sure I've gone through."

Karai put her hand on his shoulder. "You don't need to push yourself. I, for one, don't even understand what happened to me on the battlefield."

Leo walked over to Karai, prompting her to look at her leader. "You're not the only one who's questioning it, Karai," he told her. "When I was touched by the light, I felt something…different in me, causing me to change."

"What did it feel like?" Raph asked, feeling curiosity surge in him even more.

"It felt like my chest was set on fire," said Karai, looking neither Raph nor Leo in the eye, "Then I felt something causing my arms and legs being able to…reach further than before."

The two turtles were silent. Then Raph joined in, "I felt like my head split in two, and then felt my hands as though they got fused with my Sai," he said this while taking out his twin Sai weapons. "Maybe they did…" Raph trailed off. He turned his attention to Leo. "What was it like for you?"

Leo, thinking for a moment, turned away to give his response more thought. _"What did it feel like?"_ he thought to himself. He strained his mind to think back to the first few moments after the mysterious light penetrated his body. _"It was…an urge. It grew…I had extra katanas growing from my arms. I felt myself becoming blinded, but at the same time, I saw…more clearly…and then, my head was just screaming at me to eat…eat the others…"_ and then he remembered that final thought: **_Eat them all_**. He did not understand why the transformation was connected with…eating, but before he could tell his partners his answer, his attention was caught by Karai standing in front of a prominent metallic pillar a little further away.

Karai signaled to her cohorts with a pointed finger towards what appeared to be a lever pointing up while attached to the pillar. She pulled the lever down and the decorated raised wall lowered itself into the floor, revealing another door. The group proceeded through the door to enter another supply room, though this one was more elongated and rectangular and had a raised platform far to the left. There was another door up ahead on the other side, but when the group approached it, they could make out faint sounds from the other side. Wasting no time, they went through the door to investigate.

* * *

Once they made it through, they were greeted by a short barricade of sandbags, barrels, and crates that was set up to go from almost one end of the room to the other. Crouched on the other side of the barricade were a few lizard soldiers from the Scale Tail Clan, and in the middle of the group was Imperius Reptilicus himself. He and the rest of his kin present were holding crossbows at the ready, pointed right at the three.

"Don't come any closer," Imperius Reptilicus barked to the three Kikyōmon, his voice sounding calm and suppressed, though the calm part sounded slightly debatable.

None of the three thought to stay completely still. With even a slight shuffle of their feet on the ground, the lizard leader's grip on his crossbow began to shake. "No…stay back…" his voice grew slightly in volume, "Don't eat me. Please…" The three observed that his entire body was now shaking, and so were the rest of his soldiers in the room.

Karai's eyebrows furrowed, her look becoming one of outright confusion. "Reptilicus…" she spoke hesitantly, "what are you saying?"

Suddenly, Imperius Reptilicus's eyes flashed with an intense aura, an aura so fierce that it startled the trio, even Raph. "You murdered them and ate them all!" he suddenly shouted, dropping his calm tone entirely. "You all…turned into monsters…and then…you devoured all of my men!" His shaking grew more intense. "That light…that weird light shot right through us…and then everyone…" He grew louder than before, "everyone started freaking the heck out!" He immediately aimed his crossbow at the trio and readied himself to fire.

"Don't!" Leo exclaimed, holding his hand forward to tell the lizard to stop. But in that same split-second, he could see that Imperius Reptilicus was on his way to pull the trigger, so he dove behind a stack of crates, prompting Karai and Raph to take cover as well. Soon, the arrows went flying, embedding their sharp heads into the cover Leo and his crew hid behind, with Imperius Reptilicus hollering in hysterics all the while.

"Everyone started attacking each other," the lizard continued to ramble, "you ripped them apart with your bare hands!" As Leo, Raph, and Karai hid, they began to feel a sharp pain, in which they looked and traced it coming from their tattoo-like insignias on their skin that began to glow – Leo felt the marking on his left cheek beginning to glow; Raph felt the marking on his right forearm beginning to glow; Karai felt the marking on her chest beginning to glow – all the while, the arrows still flew, and Imperius Reptilicus, the marking on his left hand now taking on a hot glow, continued raving, "and then…and then…"

"Stop, that's enough!" Raph suddenly called out from behind his hiding place.

"God, help me!" Imperius Reptilicus cried out, dropping his crossbow and clenching his glowing left hand with his other hand in trembling pain. Glowing veins began spreading across his scaly skin from that same glowing hand.

"SHUT UP!" Raph screamed, jumping out of his hiding spot. He thrusted a hand into his handheld pouch and in one second, yanked and whipped out a few ninja stars into the air, sending them flying into the faces of a couple Scale Tail Clan lizards. Next to Raph, Karai was observing glowing veins spreading out from her marking, an expression faintly resembling a cross between wonder and confusion on her face. After a brief moment, the scuffle was over, leaving two lizards lying down dead behind their barricade. Imperius Reptilicus only felt himself getting worse. Clutching his head in painful stress, he lingered for a few seconds to look at the trio and then his two dead men. As he looked on, the two dead lizards rapidly began to convulse and darken, purple-glowing veins spreading across their bodies. The lizard leader jumped back in horrified shock, causing the marking on his left hand to stop glowing. However, seeing that he was in a corner, he immediately swung around and dashed through the door behind him, crying out in hysterics while he was at it.

Raph was briefly in a quiet stupor. "I…couldn't have…" he whispered, "no…not me…I didn't…do that." He clutched his head with one hand, squeezing his eyes shut stressfully, not caring to notice the glow on his arm getting stronger. "I didn't…eat those guys," his voice got louder, "I couldn't have!" He then snapped his eyes open to reveal his outrage within, exclaiming, "It wasn't me!"

Out from the barricade on the other side, the two newly transformed lizards crawled out, looking as though they were blackened husks or emaciated corpses that dug their way out of the dark cold earth. Karai suddenly felt her mark give out a brief but bright and sharp flash, causing her to flinch in momentary pain. The same happened to Raph and Leo, whose face was held rigidly in an expression of a painful flinch as the glowing veins spread across his face and the rest of his body. Leo keeled over, feeling overwhelmed with the marking's power. His body became engulfed in light and all of its features began contorting.

Raph found himself the first to transform. After the light engulfing his body died down, he violently emerged as some larger and more muscular being with two sets of jaws that may have well been two mouths in one head. His claws had three pointed Sai-like blades protruding from the knuckles.

 **[HARAI TAMAE KIYOME TAMAE] – K.Ō.J.I.N**

Karai, clenching her chest with both hands, emerged as a serpentine creature, losing her legs in exchange for having a strong tail, a snake-like head with sharp teeth, and two arms that almost resembled individual snakes of their own. Her torso became armored.

 **[HARAI TAMAE KIYOME TAMAE] – U.G.A.J.I.N**

Leo, in an instant, morphed into a raptor-like creature with fins on his head covering the top half of his face, fins on his shoulders, and two long and slender blades attached to his forearms that almost resembled his twin katanas. Flipping them back into his arms, he hissed as he eyed the two corpse-like lizards coming forward to attack.

 **[HARAI TAMAE KIYOME TAMAE] – R.Y.Ū.J.I.N**

As the two lizard monstrosities came forward, **Ryūjin** crouched slightly to ready himself for a fight, **Kōjin** bounced as he anticipated the unavoidable battle, and **Ugajin** coiled her tail to prepare to defend herself.

One of the husk-like lizards pranced towards Ryūjin to get a swipe, but the finned demon jumped away only to flip out one of his arm blades and take a slash at the creature. The swing of the blade knocked the lizard demon back. The other lizard demon tried to attack Ryūjin from the side and managed to land a claw on his back. Ryūjin was startled by the pain, but he was unfazed. He knocked his enemy away with another swing of his arm-blades, which in turn led to Kōjin leaping in and taking a swing of his own at the lizard with his tri-pointed knuckled claws. The impact from the momentum of Kōjin's strike killed the lizard instantly. Ugajin concentrated on the remaining lizard and sensed the true nature of its form: the lizard demon was called a **Ghoul** , which meant its now-dead partner was also a Ghoul. But in the few seconds it took for Ugajin to find out, the remaining Ghoul jumped out at her. With quick reflexes, Ugajin swung out her serpentine arms which had snake heads on the end of each one and knocked the Ghoul into the air away from her. As the Ghoul began to fall back down, Ugajin spun around and whipped her bottom tail into the Ghoul's torso, sending it flying into a wall. The Ghoul slid down the wall, stunned momentarily, but began to shamble its way back onto its feet. Ryūjin looked over, seeing that the Ghoul was still alive. Keeping his attention on the blackened thing, he thought of slashing it like he did with the other one. However, he instead paused for a moment, crossed his arms together, and swung them open to send a blast of cold air towards the Ghoul. The Ghoul was suddenly encased in a chunk of ice, and the ice shattered as soon as it formed, injuring the Ghoul greatly. Collapsing to the floor, the Ghoul could no longer move, but could only watch as Ryūjin walked right up to it, raised one of his blades, and brought it down on the poor demon without hesitation – the Ghoul was now dead.

Sensing that the battle was over, Ryūjin folded his blades back into his arms and once he willed the light in him to encompass his body again, he shrunk back down and reverted back to being Leo. Kōjin followed after and reverted back to Raph, along with Ugajin reverting back to Karai. Looking upon the aftermath, Leo and Karai looked composed, though Raph looked more discomforted.

"What's happening to us," Raph quietly asked, faintly feeling his arms shaking. "No, I…" he leaned forward and wretched, attempting to contain himself. "I can't eat them," he grunted.

Karai only kept her eyes on the two Ghouls' corpses with nary an expression on her face. "Why are you hesitating? Circumstances are different now," she stated bluntly, her tone unchanging. She then turned to Raph, telling him, "If you refuse to eat, you'll die just like them."

Raph only turned his head away from Karai. He warily raised his eyes to Leo, hoping he would get a second opinion from his leader in blue. Leo looked at Raph, then Karai, and then to the two corpses lying on the floor. He remembered when he first transformed: his first and most overwhelming thought was to eat. Again, he wasn't sure why it was so, but whatever reason it was, he knew deep down that it wasn't any good – and he had the feeling that it wasn't going away any time soon either. He didn't know for sure if eating was an unpleasant experience or not, but as a leader, he had to put the best interests of his team above his own, and that meant sacrificing whatever preferences he had for the sake of preventing undue hindrance to his team – whether he liked it or not. He returned his gaze to Raph, who still looked at him with earnestness, and sighed.

"I'm sorry, Raph," Leo said, and he turned to approach the dead Ghouls with Karai shortly following after him. As they both knelt down, they willed themselves to transform again, and Raph immediately turned his back towards them, clenching his hands over his eyes as his comrades began to eat.

* * *

 **Note :**

 **Ryūjin ~ the "dragon god"; the Japanese god and ruler of the sea who symbolizes the power of the ocean; he is literally a dragon**

 **Kōjin ~ the Japanese god of fire, the hearth, and the kitchen; represents violent forces that are redirected towards the betterment of humankind**

 **Ugajin ~ the Japanese deity of harvest and fertility; represented as either male or female, but has the head of a human and the body of a snake**


End file.
